Rural Korean Housewives' Attitudes towards lllness

A patient's conception of medical illness if often related to his traditional beliefs and values. Four major Korean spiritual groups, Shamanism Fatalism, Oriental medicine and Christianity project responses to disease and illness, its cause and cure. This study reviewed the attitudes of rural villagers towards illness with respect to their traditional beliefs, age and educational and economic levels. Two thirds of the respondents displayed traditional attitudes towards illness, and the most traditional attitudes were apparent in the questions and responses reflecting the Oriental medicine view of disease. Poor, relatively old less-educated persons exhibited more traditional attitudes than others. Religion, farm size and social class were not significantly related to traditional beliefs. It was found that those who have a traditional attitude towards illness believe in the providential relationship (Yondae)' more strongly than others, while those with a more scientific understanding view disease and its treatment more rationally.